KURDISH NEWS WEEKLY BRIEFING, 16 – 22 MAY 2017

NEWS1. Hunger strikers Gülmen and Özakça taken in custody2. Kemalbay elected co-chair of HDP in place of Yüksekdağ3. Turkey forming a new military force of gangs4. Up to 22,5 years in prison sought for Co-mayor of Dersim5. Gorran leader Nawshirwan Mustafa dies in Iraqi Kurdistan at age 736. Turkey Calls on Trump to Fire Obama Appointee McGurk7. Syrian force ‘tightens noose’ on Islamic State in Raqqa: U.S.-led coalition8. U.S. envoy to the U.N. will visit Syrian refugees in Jordan, Turkey9. Turkey demands US replace envoy in spat over Syrian Kurds10. SDF Secures 350 Square km in Past Week, Coalition Spokesman Says11. US delegation in Rojava12. Kurds disappointed by Trump statements after Erdogan meeting13. Ankara hunger strikers reach 70 days without food14. The role given to Turkey: to be the protectorate of jihadists15. Death sentence for Rojavan Kurd in Iran16. “Elections in Iran are a show and fraud”

OPINION, COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS1. In A City Under Siege A Smile Is Resistance2. A route out of paralysis3. Erdogan-Trump: The most unsuccessful Washington visit ever4. McCain reacts to DC brawl: throw Turkey’s ambassador ‘the hell out’5. How two clerics topped agenda of Erdogan-Trump meeting6. Erdogan’s foreign policy leaves Turkey in the doldrums7. DC think tank accused of bending over backwards for Erdogan8. Erdoğan-Trump meeting interpreted by political analysts from Turkey9. Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Kaboglu: Individual, party and state are merged10. ‘Hands off Josh Walker’ protest for Bristol man who fought ISIS but now faces11. Iran’s Kurds voice frustrations, hopes heading into election

CAMPAIGNS1. 8 JUNE 2017 ELECTION: Green Party2. CAMPACC Questions to Election CandidatesEVENTSThe U.S. – Kurdish Collaboration in the Course of Reshaping the Middle East
————————————-NEWS1. Hunger strikers Gülmen and Özakça taken in custody
22 May/ANF NewsAcademic Nuriye Gülmen and teacher Semih Özakça have been on a hunger strike for the last 75 days, and they were taken into custody last night in a midnight raid to their home.https://anfenglish.com/news/hunger-strikers-guelmen-and-Oezakca-taken-in-custody-20115

5. Gorran leader Nawshirwan Mustafa dies in Iraqi Kurdistan at age 73
19 May/EKurd
SULAIMANI, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— A prominent Kurdish leader and the head of Change (Gorran) Movement Nawshirwan Mustafa died on Friday morning at the age of 73 in Sulaimani city in Iraqi Kurdistan after taking medical care for nearly nine months in the UK.http://ekurd.net/nawshirwan-mustafa-dies-2017-05-19

10. SDF Secures 350 Square km in Past Week, Coalition Spokesman Says
18 May/NRTTurkey has told the United States it will not join in any military operations that include Kurdish fighters in Syria, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday, while vowing to strike the U.S.-backed Kurds if they threaten Turkey’s security.http://www.nrttv.com/En/Details.aspx?Jimare=14535

12. Kurds disappointed by Trump statements after Erdogan meeting
17 May/ARA NewsIn a press conference with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, United States President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Washington supports Turkey in its fight against “terror groups” such as the Islamic State (ISIS) and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).http://aranews.net/2017/05/kurds-disappointed-trump-statements-erdogan-meeting/

13. Ankara hunger strikers reach 70 days without food
18 May/Al MonitorNuriye Gulmen, a research assistant at Selcuk University in Konya, was first suspended from duty and then removed from her position during the state of emergency after the attempted coup in July. She started a solo protest to get her job back on Nov. 9 on Ankara’s Yuksel Street and soon was joined by Semih Ozakca, who had been dismissed from his position in an elementary school in Mardin’s Mazidagi district, along with his wife.http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/05/turkey-academics-hunger-strikes-70-day-long.html#ixzz4hf4k6LjM

14. The role given to Turkey: to be the protectorate of jihadists
10 May/SPOTIn Syria, we have moved onto the stage of delicate calculations. Proxy wars waged by use of various organisations have for some time been replaced by those who have designated the proxies. It seems that it is now the time of “correction”, and one of the main issues is how to “put into order” those jihadists who were moved into the region from outside. One must admit that Turkey will be the one who will have the most severe headache.http://spotturkey.co.uk/2017/05/21/the-role-given-to-turkey-to-be-the-protectorate-of-jihadists/

16. “Elections in Iran are a show and fraud”
21 May/ANF NewsAdministrators from Iranian and Eastern Kurdistani parties and organizations active in Sweden state that the election of “reformist” Rouhani will not change anything in Iran where all authority is in the hands of spiritual leader Ali Khamenei.https://anfenglish.com/news/elections-in-iran-are-a-show-and-fraud-20108

4. McCain reacts to DC brawl: throw Turkey’s ambassador ‘the hell out’
18 May/Al MonitorReaction to the trademark thuggery of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s security detail continued to grow today as US Sen. John MCain, a veteran voice on foreign policy issues in Congress, called for the expulsion of Turkey’s ambassador. “We should throw their ambassador the hell out of the United States of America. This kind of thing cannot go unresponded to diplomatically,” McCain, the head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told MSNBC in an interview. McCain also called for legal action.http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/05/erdogan-guards-violence-mccain-expell-ambassador.html#ixzz4herbBzR4

7. DC think tank accused of bending over backwards for Erdogan
16 May/Al MonitorThe last time Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to Washington was in March last year to attend the Nuclear Security Summit, and things went horribly wrong. Erdogan delivered a speech at the Brookings Institution. What most people remember is not what he said there but what happened outside the think tank’s Massachusetts Avenue premises. News that Erdogan’s notoriously thuggish security detail set upon protesters and reporters, physically assaulting and hurling insults at them, made international headlines.ttp://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/05/erdogan-washington-visit-think-tanks.html#ixzz4hNKT71fQ

9. Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Kaboglu: Individual, party and state are merged
21 May/SPOTOne of the most hotly argued topics of constitutional change had been the judiciary. Regardless of the legislative, executive and judicial powers given to the President in a way that is unseen in any other country; the transfer of parliamentary powers to one person – the President – without any attempt for justification; it is particularly striking that the higher organisation of judiciary is subordinated to the executive and especially one man. We are entering a period in which the level of authority has never been so high historically; including the period of Kanun-i Esasi. (the Ottoman Constitution)http://spotturkey.co.uk/2017/05/21/prof-dr-ibrahim-kaboglu-individual-party-and-state-are-merged/

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Weekly News Briefing

Jeremy Corbyn issues statement of support for the National Demo

Message from Jeremy Corbyn to Kurdish national demonstration London 6/3/16:
“I’m sorry not to be able to be with you today, but I send a message of solidarity with today’s demonstration, and with the Kurdish people, under sustained attack across the Middle East.
The conflict in Syria has been the trigger for an onslaught against the Kurdish people, who are defending their autonomy and their rights.
We are watching closely the alarming events that have been unfolding in Turkey in recent weeks, including the killing of civilians and destruction of Kurdish homes.
Any negotiated settlement of the Syrian conflict must include peace and justice for the Kurds, including in Turkey. And the Turkish government needs as a matter of urgency to restart the peace process with the Kurds and respect the rights of all its people.
We call for an end to repression of the Kurds and justice for the Kurdish people throughout the Middle East.”